2024-01-29
36 分钟If you’ve ever opened up social media in the hopes that it would cheer you up only for it to leave you upset, angry, or tired, you are not alone. So what if we could turn that special power the internet has to change our emotions – and use it for good? The head of TED, Chris Anderson, joins Chris Duffy to talk about why he believes in what he calls infectious generosity. Join the two Chrises as they discuss how we can turn outrage back into optimism by tapping into one of the most fundamental human virtues. Chris Anderson’s book, Infectious Generosity, is out now. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts
Ted audio collective, you're listening to how to be a better human.
I'm your host, Chris Duffy.
What's the best gift that you've ever been given?
For a long time, my answer to that question would have been a Christmas sometime in late elementary school where my parents gave me a box of these chocolate covered peppermint sticks that I was obsessed with and I couldn't find anywhere.
And then they also gave me a box of collectible Star wars trading cards.
I experienced true transcendental ecstasy in that moment.
Like, I do not think the human brain even is able to process higher levels of excitement than I reached opening those two presents back to back.
But now, as an adult, I've come to think about meaningful gifts more broadly than just pictures of chewbacca and obscure candies.
Today, I would tell you that some of the most meaningful gifts I receive are people's time, their vulnerability, their kindness, and their willingness to listen to me and to see me.
And that is a type of generosity that I actually hadn't thought very deeply about until I read a book by today's guest, Chris Anderson.
Chris is the head of Ted, and so I guess he's kind of my boss.
He is also a person who has spent his career thinking about how to give things away and what it means to do that effectively and responsibly, whether that means attention or support or money.
Chris new book is called infectious generosity, and this is how he defines what infectious generosity is at its broadest.
Its just any generous act that sparks someone else to be generous.
The hope, the belief is that in our connected age, we can spark chain reactions of generosity, ripple effects across the world to take on the nastiness of what is out there right now.
But it could be literally, it could be a kind act that is noticed by someone and shared on social media, or it could be someone just writing a check that, in a way that has ripple effects coming from it.
It's a thoughtful piece of philanthropy, if you like, that can have infectious effect.
There's all kinds of ways to be generous, and therefore, there are all different kinds of infectious generosity, but the one thing we know is that they have all been massively dialed up in the connected era we're in right now.
And I think that aspect of generosity has not been fully taken into account, which is why I wrote this book.
We will be back with more from Chris in just a moment, but in the meantime, here are some messages from our very generous sponsors.